The State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) has announced the commencement of a new workers compensation regulation. Source: Timberbiz
The Workers Compensation Regulation 2016 (2016 Regulation) commenced on 1 September 2016 and remakes and replaces the Workers Compensation Regulation 2010 (2010 Regulation). The 2010 Regulation was due for automatic staged repeal on 1 September, which provided the opportunity to remake the Regulation, ensuring it appropriately supports the workers compensation legislation.
Deputy Secretary Better Regulation, Department of Finance, Services and Innovation and Chief Executive of SIRA, Anthony Lean said the 2016 Regulation reflected the NSW Government’s commitment to better regulation for businesses and workers.
“The 2016 Regulation is an update to accurately reflect recent legislative change and reforms,” Mr Lean said.
“Due to the automatic staged repeal of the 2010 Regulation on 1 September, the Regulation was remade with amendments.
“Changes include updating prescribed medical tests and results relating to brucellosis, Q fever, and leptospirosis to reflect the latest definitions from the NSW Control Guidelines for Public Health Units.
“Other changes include alignment with reforms to workers compensation and legal profession legislation since 2010, and removal of unnecessary clauses.
“Updated references to other legislative instruments and clarification of the wording of clauses where there was unclear interpretation have also been included.”
Mr Lean said the 2016 Regulation also incorporated amendments made to the 2010 Regulation during 2016.
“Due to their substantive and specialised nature, amendments to the Market Practice and Premiums Guidelines and Return to Work Assistance benefits were progressed concurrently with, but separate to, the remake of the 2010 Regulation,” he said.
“Work also continues on issues related to pre-injury average weekly earnings and legal costs for work capacity decisions. Any enhancements to the 2016 Regulation concerning these issues will be announced in the future.”
Mr Lean said the development of the Regulation included public consultation which identified a number of opportunities for better workers compensation regulation.
“Public consultation on the draft Regulation was conducted from May – June 2016 and stakeholder submissions were considered in the development of the new regulation,” he said.
“A number of key issues were highlighted in relation to worker access to reports obtained by insurers and work-related diseases. While these issues were outside the scope of this remake, the feedback identified opportunities for better regulation for injured workers in the future.
“SIRA has listened to that feedback and will respond with some additional projects to deliver better regulation for NSW.”
